Thomas and Mary: A Love Story

Thomas and Mary A Love Story Somehow it seemed to him the only thing that would really solve the problem would be to return to the sea and find the old ring with their names and the wedding date engraved inside in carat gold

Title: Thomas and Mary: A Love Story

Author: Tim Parks

ISBN: 9781910701157

Page: 103

Format: Hardcover

Somehow it seemed to him the only thing that would really solve the problem would be to return to the sea and find the old ring with their names and the wedding date engraved inside, in 22 carat gold, and put it on again and then the world would magically return to what it had been before Many years before.This did not happen Thomas and Mary have been married for thirty Somehow it seemed to him the only thing that would really solve the problem would be to return to the sea and find the old ring with their names and the wedding date engraved inside, in 22 carat gold, and put it on again and then the world would magically return to what it had been before Many years before.This did not happen Thomas and Mary have been married for thirty years They have two children, a dog, a house in the suburbs But after years of drifting apart, things finally come to a head.In this love story in reverse, Tim Parks recounts what happens when youthful devotion has long given way to dog walking, separate bed times, and tensions over who left the fridge door open.Lurching from comedy to tragedy, via dependence, cold re examination, tenderness and betrayal, Thomas and Mary is a fiercely intimate chronicle of a marriage capturing the offshoots of pain sent through an entire family, when the couple at its heart decide it s all over.

The forensic examination of the small pleasures and irritations that make up a shared life provides the humour of this novel, the struggle to commit to either the marriage or separation its poignancy. Full review annegoodwin.weebly/1/post/

The 'A Love Story' title is clearly tongue-in-cheek here, as this was anything but! It follows Thomas and Mary as their marriage slowly begins to crumble around them. It appears that Thomas and Mary were never really in love to begin with though, so it was hard to empathise with either character or will them on to find happiness. Despite the fact that most of the book is full of rather mundane detail (presumably to mimic the state of the character's relationship) and it was a little disjointed, [...]

I liked the idea of this novel, with a kind of 360 degree look at the breakdown of a marriage, and there were some moments of brilliance and heartbreaking poignancy. But the problem for me was that the constant shifts in character made me lose interest in the main characters themselves, and I found it hard to sympathise with either Thomas or Mary. I also found it odd that everyone BUT Mary seemed to have a voice. Why not give us an insight into her side?

Usually when I read a book I don’t think much about the author’s personal life. Sure, an author has to invest some of themselves in what they write but unless it’s a memoir I don’t dwell on the extent of that investment. And then I read Thomas and Mary by Tim Parks. And I can’t stop thinking about the state of Tim Parks’s personal life. Specifically, I’m thinking he’s either been through a bitter divorce; paying child support for the next one thousand years; and/or has had affair [...]

Essentially this book is just so very dull. There’s some good writing hidden amongst all the dullness but it all so unremittingly goes on and on and on……Thomas has been married to Mary for 30 years and things are getting….well, dull. But does the reader really need to accompany Thomas as he wallows in his self-pity? I don’t think so. I found the beginning of the novel quite appealing. Tim Parks is good at analysing the everyday details that make up married life, the avoidances, the res [...]

I appreciated the repetitive style and mundaneness this book is written with as it reflects the way a relationship can grow stale and age. I just wish it had more appeal. It wasn't a particularly fun or exciting read and it certainly wasn't a page turner. Some chapters were pointless and it seemed pointless as a story. The title 'Thomas and Mary' is quite true but Mary does seem to get the rough end of the deal throughout and you never can quite connect with her as a character.

I love Tim Parks' books, yet I couldn't get through this one. I got so tired of the main character and him being grumpy. I really wanted to keep going, but ultimately decided to give up. There are so many good books to read and, as a close friend of mine said 'life's too short to read mediocre stuff'

This is a particularly strange slant on a love story, as it describes in minute, every day detail, the slow disintegration of a marriage. The style is very repetitive and bland (possibly to emphasise the state of Thomas and Mary's relationship) so I found it extremely hard to engage with the characters and the storyline and for me this was a very disappointing, unfullfilling read.

one of the worst books I've read in ages started off alright and it made me laugh a couple of times then it just became very uninteresting I ended up skipping most of it and having finally got to the end it wasn't worth it It also dodgedabout before in time which made it hard to follow completely pointless book

The decline of a marriage shown by many different points of view. I thought the book was well written but not particularly engaging. I failed to understand Mary at all. Why was she constantly taking her dog out on 2 hour long walks? Why did she leave him at the farm in France?